Music has had a long relationship with space, dating back to Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets’ through pop music’s early dabbling, such as The Tornados’ ‘Telstar’ and David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’, all the way through to Hannah Peel’s ‘Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia’. Because space conjures ideas of mystery, connection, imagination, infinity and the intangible, it […]
Ceramic Animal play a blues inspired rock that caught the ear of Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, who liked them so much he signed them to his own Easy Eye Sound label, and has produced their latest album ‘Sweet Unknown’. Hailing from Pennsylvania, the band create a lush densely melodic sound, somewhere between War On […]
When you can count Iggy Pop, Johnny Marr, Jarvis Cocker as fans, you know you must be doing something right. After more than forty years of music making The Monochrome Set are back again with their sixteenth studio album. From the opening refrains of title track ‘Allhallowtide’ the chamber pop tone for the rest of […]
I can clearly remember where I was when I first heard The Coral, at home tuned into the radio in 2002, the magnificent ‘Skeleton Key’ blasted out with all its frantic rhythms and psychedelic induced melodies, and so began my musical love affair with the scouse musical magicians. They created the kind of melodies and […]
Johnny Marr’s Crazy Face studio sounds like a great place, an old warehouse, somewhere in the Mancunian suburbs, its industrialist past now given way to a creative future. It’s where, during the last year, Marr’s album ‘Fever Dreams Pts 1 – 4’ has taken shape. Most of the song writing was done by just Marr […]
In 2011, Metronomy released ‘The English Riviera’ which stands as one of the 21st Century’s landmark albums, blending Joseph Mount’s earlier creative dance music with sophisticated pop in a loose concept album that reenvisaged Torquay as an elegant resort. Like Magnetic Fields after ’69 Love Songs’ or Sufjan Stevens with ‘Illinois’, the problem becomes how […]
– Academy, Manchester – Magical bands do not come along that often. To be a magical band, you have to have an alchemy that is almost undefinable, a mysterious quality that’s all but impossible to put your finger on, something that no other combination of people could achieve, something not even an infinite amount of […]
Emma-Jean Thackray has been storming the world of jazz since her debut album ‘Yellow’ was released in 2021, a gorgeous cocktail of 70’s style psych-funk, jazzy brass riffs and groove laden tunes. The album rocketed to number one in the Jazz and Blues Chart, and opened the doors for many into the world of psych […]
Let’s face it, the thrill of discovering new music, new bands you’ve never heard of before keeps us music fans entertained and constantly striving for the next music fix. Whether it’s digging through the vinyl and CD shelves in your local record shop, hearing something new on the radio, or in this case getting a […]
Cate Le Bon has been one of the most thrilling performers of the past decade. From hitting her stride with second album, ‘Cryk’, through to 2019’s Mercury Prize nominated ‘Reward’, she has created a string of albums unmatched over the period by finding a perfect balance between experimentation and charming melody. She is blessed with […]
GIG GUIDE
Our gig guide is handpicked and every act has been listened to before making it onto the list.
See this month's guide
ALBUM REVIEW - THE SCRATCH: PULL LIKE A DOG
ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 13 MARCH 2026
ALBUM REVIEW - FOTOCRIME: SECURITY
ALBUM REVIEW - TENDERNESS: TRUE
ALBUM REVIEW - ART SCHOOL GIRLFRIEND: LEAN IN
ALBUM REVIEW - SQUEEZE: TRIXIES
ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 6 MARCH 2026
ALBUM REVIEW - AGABAS: HARD ANGER
GIG GUIDE - MARCH 2026
ALBUM REVIEW - CONVERGE: LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH
